Mosley Stops Mayorga in Final Round
Sunday September 28, 2008
Entering the 12th round, Sugar Shane Mosley (45-5) was ahead of Ricardo Mayorga (28-7-1) on two of the three judges' scorecards (107-102, 105-104, 104-105). If Mayorga won the final round, the fight would have been scored a controversial draw (Mosley should have been further ahead on the cards). Mosley, however, was not prepared to let the judges decide the outcome. Mosley went after Mayorga aggressively and sent him to the deck late in the round. Mayorga got to his feet but Mosley decked him again with a perfect left hook and referee David Mendoza stopped the fight without bothering to count. Time of the stoppage was 2:59 -- just one second remaining in the bout. For the fight, Mosley was guaranteed $1.5 million and Mayorga was guaranteed $550,000. Mosley, 37, may be a bit past his prime but would still provide a great test for any of the current welterweight champions: Antonio Margarito, Paul Williams, Andre Berto or Joshua Clottey.
On the undercard, WBC welterweight champ Andre Berto (23-0) successfully defended his title with a unanimous decision over former champ and Contender finalist Steve Forbes (33-7). The scorecards all favored Berto by a wide margin: 118-109, 118-109 and 116-111. Berto earned $300,000 while Forbes received $150,000.
Comments
I can’t believe that two of the judges had Mosley in the lead before the final round! I had him down by 3 possibly 4! I am a big Mosley fan but he didn’t look himself at all. He was finding hard to cope with the stronger Mayorga. I gave a couple of the earlier rounds to Mosley and definatley the 6th. But apart from that, he was finding it hard to read where Mayorga’s punches were coming from. Even thou he is usually quite predicable.
Am not sure where he is goin to go from here because if he steps back down to Welter, I don’t think he could beat any of the current champs including Berto. And he seems to be a bit on the small side for light middle. Maybe if Duddy or Hearns picks a belt up who knows.
It was a good job that Mosley got the KO in the 12 as it would of been highly contraversal when the scorecards were read out.
Peter = On crack…
I would like to see Mosley/Williams. I don’t think he could take Margarito or Clottey due to work rate; also Clottey and Berto aren’t worth it.
However, Mosley still has juice in the tank. That KO punch was a killer that I watched many times over. Great, great KO. He was baffled by Mayorga, but to Mayorga’s credit, he came with more enthusiasm and zest than he usually does. Mosley and Floyd/De La O/Clottey/Williams/Marg/Hatton would be all be great to watch.
Any time you get a Don King fight, you take a chance on judging like this. After 11 I had Sugar up 8 to 3 and almost gave the round where the punk Mayorga was saying taking shots and saying ‘Hit Me’ after landing three punches to him 10-8. Mayorga used Wrestling Smackdown tactics to get the first two rounds and ate rights the rest of the fight, and never hurt Sugar.
Mosley is a class fighter, a class guy, and it was nice to see him take away any down by putting the bum away.
Ben Wiser are you takin the piss? Take it your an american watchin the fight on HBO with there commentary?
You could see it in Mosley’s eyes and body language that he thought he was losin the fight. Even his dad was worried and said to him you need to start to used your jab and win these rounds. Judges influenced by Golden Boy anyone? Mosley couldn’t deal with Mayorga’s unothodox style. Got the job done in the end but he won’t win another belt. Especially at Welter!